WPIAL basketball: Rochester looks to add to history

Mike Bires @mikebires

Tuesday

Mar 1, 2011 at 12:01 AMMar 1, 2011 at 11:36 PM

ROCHESTER - Jen Milne was there during the bad times. She played on some of those dreadful teams that went through entire seasons without once experiencing a victory. She was there for parts of the 83-game losing streak.

But now, Milne is charge of the amazing success story that Rochester girls basketball has become.

No longer are the Rams a laughingstock. They have become consistent winners who are in the WPIAL playoffs for the 12th straight year, the longest active streak of any girls team in The Times' circulation area.

"It's been a good run, but there are still a few things that we have yet to accomplish," said Milne, a 1989 Rochester graduate who also teaches at her alma mater.

What Rochester hasn't done during the past 12 seasons is win a WPIAL title. In fact, the Rams have never played in a WPIAL championship game.

That could change if Rochester (17-6) beats fourth-seeded Fort Cherry (21-3) tonight in a Class A semifinal at North Allegheny.

"We are ready to set history," senior forward Ivorie Law said. "We want to get to the Palumbo Center."

Only once has Rochester advanced to the semifinals - in 2006 when it lost Monessen, which went on to win the championship. A win over Fort Cherry will put Rochester in Saturday morning's Class A final at Duquesne University.

"These girls are playing for themselves but they're also playing for all the girls who have played here before them," said Milne, who's in her 11th season as coach. "And that's a great thing because all the girls who made the playoffs the last 11 years want to see one of our teams finally get to the Palumbo Center.

"Winning (tonight) and going to the Palumbo Center would be historical for this program. I say that because when I played at Rochester, girls basketball wasn't even a real deal. And now, we have a chance to do something no Rochester team has ever done."

Actually, these Rams have already done something that no Rochester girls team has ever done before: beat a No. 1 seed. That happened last Saturday with a stunning 48-36 win over Vincentian.

Rochester played its best game of the season against Vincentian, especially defensively. It will take a similar effort to beat Fort Cherry, a formidable opponent that plays a deliberate, disciplined style of basketball comparable to Vincentian.

The Rams are more run-and-gun. They like to generate offense with their defense, which is usually tight man-to-man.

"When this season started, I thought we had a chance to go far," senior forward Hayden Kimbrough said. "We had a great season last year (with a school-record 20 wins and a loss in the WPIAL quarterfinals). We had a lot of good players back from last year, so I expected us to work hard and have a chance to get to the Palumbo Center.

"This is so exciting because I've never gotten this far before. We've already had a great season. But now we want to go farther."

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